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The Florida city where neighborhood-watch leader George Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin,
an unarmed black teenager, is changing the rules on how civilian patrols can operate to help
prevent a recurrence and revive the program’s reputation.

The new rules, to be released at a community meeting on Tuesday in Sanford, will state
explicitly that residents acting under the authority of neighborhood watch may not carry a firearm
or pursue someone they deem suspicious.

Zimmerman, who is Latino, was acquitted in July in the February 2012 death of Martin. The
prosecution accused him of racially profiling Martin, a high-school student visiting from Miami,
and then pursuing, confronting and shooting him.

The jury considered Zimmerman’s self-defense claim in light of Florida’s “stand your ground”
law, which rescinded the duty of citizens to try to retreat from a confrontation.